Leigh Leopards boss Adrian Lam is looking forward to working with the club’s new Director of Rugby, Andrew Henderson, after his appointment was confirmed earlier today.
Henderson has departed fellow Super League club, York Knights, to join the Leopards, and his appointment puts an end to a near 12-month search conducted by the club following the exit of Chris Chester.
Chester left the club in late April last year to join Castleford Tigers, and Henderson’s arrival now means that Lam has someone to work alongside and someone that can “take the pressure off” him in certain scenarions.
Lam spoke to the press today [Wednesday] to discuss the club’s home tie with Huddersfield Giants tomorrow, and was asked about the former London Broncos boss’ arrival at the club.
He said: “[I’m] obviously very pleased for him, myself and the club as well. He’s another body around here to get on with what’s next within the club and just to help with all areas really.
“[He’s a] great person, and I think he’ll do a great job here.”
Revealing what Henderson’s jobs will entail, the Leopards boss added: “Yeah, I think he’ll have a part to play with both the board and Neil [Jukes, CEO] and Derek [Beaumont, owner] but also myself.
“I think that’s the big key one for me is just to take some pressure off certain areas. That certainly helps me focus on the rugby side of things and I think he’s been around a long time.
“He has a great rapport with every club and the RFL and players as well. He’s been a coach himself so he understands the system.
“He’s just got to slide straight in here really and get to work quickly. We’ve all been looking forward to that and he’s been here this week and he’s already digging his heels in and getting involved so we’re pretty excited.”
Leigh Leopards boss hails veteran winger ahead of milestone appearance
Leigh have another reason to celebrate this week, as winger Josh Charnley prepares to take to the field for his 400th career game.
The game will also mark Charnley’s 99th for the club, after the former Wigan and Warrington man joined the side in their Championship promotion-winning season back in 2022.
Sc0ring 70 tries in those 98 matches so far, the 11-time England international has been a standout in Leigh’s rise to Super League success, and Lam hopes that his milestone match will give the side more motivation to get over the line this week.
“We made an announcement today and acknowledged the achievement for Josh, it’s incredible,” the Leigh boss said.
“It doesn’t happen too often when someone of a player like his calibre gets to that honour and we certainly embraced that this morning in the team meeting.
“It’s his 99th game for us as well with Leigh and 100th game next week for us so that’s pretty special too and just having some of his mates make comments and his family, it was an emotional time for everyone in the room and one of the greats of the game really.
Lam went as far to say that Charnley was a “legend” of the game, something you can’t really argue with given he has scored the second-most tries in Super League history, and by the time his career is over he could well take top spot.
The boss continued: “When you look at also the tries scored, I think he’s averaged around 323 tries roughly around that too, that’s averaging quite high in the professional sport.
“On top of all that, he’s a great athlete but he’s also a great person, just his presence, he’s a fan’s favourite, he’s always smiling, he’s never down, never grumpy, he’s just a person that we love having around the club and we’re grateful that he gets to spend that moment in our hands really as a club, he’s a legend and we love him.
“I know the fans love him too so hopefully we’ll make a special night for him and an extra reason to win tomorrow night.”
